Amcor triples recycled material target to support circular economy in latest sustainability report

21 Nov 2022 --- Amcor has released its 2022 Sustainability Report, detailing continued progress against key environmental sustainability metrics and announcing an enhanced target to achieve 30% recycled content across its portfolio by 2030.

The packaging leader highlights this new recycled content target, which is three times its previous target of 10% and comes as it reflects on a landmark year in its efforts toward greater environmental sustainability.

“In ramping up our targets for recycled content, we’re helping scale the amount of recycled content coming into the market to create a circular economy for packaging,” says David Clark, vice president of sustainability at Amcor.

“We do this by not only making sure that the packaging produced is designed to be recycled but also by boosting infrastructure and consumer awareness to ensure the content gets recycled and stays in the economy.”

Amcor’s achievements
In the fiscal year 2022, Amcor more than doubled its post-consumer recycled material purchased since 2019 and achieved a Gold rating from EcoVadis for its industry-leading sustainability practices, placing the company among the top 5% of all companies assessed.

The report highlights how the company has advanced its pledge to make all products recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025. Some 74% of its total production by weight is designed to be recycled and an increasing number of innovative solutions contain environmentally sustainable properties.

Amcor aims to increase consumer recycling awareness to ensure used materials stay in the economy.Earlier this year, Amcor unveiled a product rebrand designed to give customers a clearer, holistic view of the environmental sustainability specifications of its growing portfolio. This marketing strategy provides customers with “greater visibility and transparency” for its products, which have grown rapidly through innovation and strategic acquisitions.

Clark previously told PackagingInsights that “Amcor’s product rebrand makes it easier for customers to identify how products are made and what happens to them after consumer use, helping them choose more [environmentally] sustainable solutions.”

Zero waste-to-disposal
Meanwhile, progress toward Amcor’s EnviroAction program also continues, with a 33% reduction in waste sent to disposal over the past three years and 121 Amcor sites achieving zero waste-to-disposal last year. All sites have water management plans in place,and every site that uses plastic pellets, granules or flakes has implemented the Operation Clean Sweep methodology for preventing plastic pellet loss.

“We continue to show ambition and leadership to deliver better sustainability results for our people, customers, investors and the environment. We’re working with every part of the value chain to make this happen,” asserts Ron Delia, CEO at Amcor.

“We now have an exciting lineup of innovative packaging products and we keep raising the bar to deliver the very best solutions for our customer’s specific needs,” says Delia.

Amcor in the news
In recent news, Amcor reported predictions for a strong first fiscal quarter of 2023 based on a three-month focus on its monetary statistics. In those three months, the company’s net sales were US$3.7 million, up 9% from the previous quarter for its flexible packaging products. This number was reported while including the price increases of approximately US$400 million, resulting in 12% growth.

In September, Amcor Rigid Packaging (ARP) created ClearCor to create DairySeal – a new PET barrier technology for ready-to-drink dairy beverage containers. The bottles are recyclable and can be made with up to 80% recyclable materials.

ARP designed a barrier from PET film to maintain the taste and freshness of dairy beverages. Additionally, ClearCor developed new technology creating a “concentrated capsulation” in the center of the preform, allowing more flexibility and resin options for the containers.

Edited by Natalie Schwertheim

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